“It’s over” for Lincoln Riley at USC, says Paul Finebaum

Lincoln Riley was once considered the biggest rising name among college football head coaches, but he has only managed a 19-8 record in two years at USC, and now that the school is planning a historic move to the Big Ten as part of this year’s conference realignment, the pressure is mounting.

So much so that college football’s most famous analyst believes the Riley era at USC may already be in its final stages.

In a recent talk on his show, Paul Finebaum argued that it is not impossible that USC will finish the 2024 football season with a negative record and that Riley has lost control of the program.

“Bruce Feldman said earlier that he thinks they’re headed for about seven wins, which is pretty dangerous when you’re the coach of USC and you’ve had two bad seasons in a row,” Finebaum said.

“I mean, I think it’s over for Lincoln Riley anyway. For me, he lost control. And once you lose control, you’re in the middle of quicksand,” Finebaum added.

Things haven’t gone according to plan for USC since Riley was brought to the team two years ago. His famous sudden departure from Oklahoma and his debut at the Coliseum seemed like something out of a Hollywood blockbuster, and for a while it seemed like the Trojans had finally found their man.

USC won 11 games in Riley’s debut season and quarterback Caleb Williams won the Heisman Trophy, but the team’s leaky defense sabotaged the team at a time when a place in the College Football Playoffs seemed inevitable.

A bad loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game and a one-point loss to Group of Five program Tulane in the Cotton Bowl were a disappointing end to an otherwise promising season.

A year ago, Riley’s team finished 8-5 thanks to another disastrous defensive performance, losing to four ranked teams, but finished the season with a win over Louisville in the Holiday Bowl.

Now USC faces a difficult 2024 football schedule that includes a season-opening game in Las Vegas against SEC contender LSU before jumping into a challenging Big Ten schedule.

College Football HQ ranks USC’s 2024 schedule as the second-toughest in the conference, with road games against Michigan and Washington and home games against Penn State and Notre Dame, both of which are playoff contenders this season.

This is not the first time Finebaum has sharply criticized Riley and his work at USC.

In comments on the Matt Barrie Show last season, the ESPN analyst and longtime college football commentator called the Trojans under Riley a “complete disaster.”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a worse coaching job than Lincoln Riley this year,” Finebaum said after USC’s loss to UCLA, the team’s fifth loss in six games.

“It’s a total disaster and quite frankly, he’s thrown his stuff out. I don’t really see where he’s going from here.”

“Maybe you should look in the mirror, Lincoln,” he said. “Maybe you’re just a total fraud as a coach.”

This season is Riley’s chance to prove otherwise. Otherwise, USC could be forced to make a very difficult decision, and much sooner than expected.

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